Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the occasion of Africa Day, observed on 25 May:

In Myanmar, the United Nations continues to follow closely the situation in Rakhine State, which is worsening the vulnerabilities of all communities in one of the country’s poorest regions.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that Uganda’s open-door policy for refugees is being strained by arrivals from Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In Haiti, the United Nations and its partners continue to support people affected and displaced by the ongoing violence. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), through its mobile clinics, and its partners have supported more than 20,000 displaced people in Port-au-Prince since the end of February.

In Nigeria, the UN, its humanitarian assistance partners and the Government have launched a $306 million appeal to support 2.8 million people in the country’s north-east — comprising the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe — where some 4.8 million people are facing food insecurity, the highest level in seven years.

On Thursday, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, while UNRWA and other UN agencies’ staff were on the compound. This is the second appalling incident against UNRWA in less than a week.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the Day of Vesak, observed on 23 May:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, observed on 17 May:

In Zambia, the UN and partners have launched an $228 million appeal to assist 4.6 million people this year after the Government there declared a national drought disaster at the end of February. The driest agricultural season in over 40 years has left over 9 million people, nearly half the population, food insecure.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day for Biological Diversity, observed on 22 May: